Student raises concerns about sugar association’s presentation at school

WATCH ABOVE: Crystal Goomansingh reports on why the group won’t be allowed in other Toronto schools.

TORONTO – A teenager at a Toronto high school says he was told by a group of presenters talking sugar at his school Monday that he couldn’t ask any more questions about the product.

Ryan Storm, a 13-year-old student at Northern Secondary School, wrote in his blog that he attended a presentation by the Canadian Sugar Institute intended to talk about how sugar can be part of a healthy diet.

The association refused to be interviewed by Global News but said in a statement they “are not involved in the marketing or promotion of sugar or food products that contain sugar.”

The association promotes itself as a non-profit representing the Canadian sugar industry which provides science-based nutrition information.

The association said they were invited by the school to share nutritional information.

But school board officials didn’t know about the presentation until it had already happened. Ryan Bird, a spokesperson for the TDSB, said the organization didn’t go through the normal vetting process.

“The fact is, this specific presentation didn’t go through our formal vetting process,” Bird said. “The fact is, it was inappropriate, it shouldn’t have happened and this specific presentation won’t be made in that school, or any other school.”

He said dieticians, nutritionists and public health officials connected with a hospital or public health unit would be the type of expert brought in to talk about nutrition.

The association has an extensive section on their website for educators and students that purports to explain the “role of sugars and carbohydrates in a healthy diet.”